The graphic novel aims to dispel the romanticisation of Burke and Hare as graverobbers who sold their finds to the medical profession, instead revealing their activities as serial killers instead.

The Scotsman quotes from Alan Grant’s introduction saying;

It was a revelation to discover they were actually serial killers, vile brutes who measured the price of human life in pounds, shilling and pence, monsters for whom alcohol and smothering were the tools of their trade.

A gallery in the book features additional work by Frank Quitely, Gary Erksine, Stephen Daly, Dave Hill, David Alexander, Alex Ronald, Stuart Beel and Lynsey Hutchinson.